Kirby Smart says Jacob Eason is 'the third guy coming in to compete for the job'

Kirby Smart hasn’t forgotten about Georgia’s other two quarterbacks.

With a ton of attention placed on Georgia freshman quarterback Jacob Eason and what could be expected of him early in his career, Smart reiterated the need to keep any pressure off his highly recruited five-star player.

"Everybody’s expectation is he’s going to start, he’s going to be the savior," Smart said during a Wednesday radio appearance on 680 The Fan. "We got two quarterbacks on our team competing for a job. He’s the third guy coming in to compete for the job."

Smart is obviously referring to quarterbacks Greyson Lambert and Brice Ramsey. Lambert beat out Ramsey during the 2015 preseason and started 12 of Georgia’s 13 games. Lambert, who transferred to Georgia from Virginia, finished the 2015 season 162-of-256 passing for 1,959 yards, 12 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Ramsey saw little playing time during the year and completed 21-of-35 passes for 249 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Lambert, Ramsey and Eason are Georgia’s only three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster.

Smart said his intention is to hold an open competition, even if the narrative of Eason starting from day one is out there.

"We want (Eason) to get better every day," Smart said. "I don’t want him to look at the end goal of ‘Did I start or not start.’  That’s results. What do I have to do to get there? Let’s talk about the road he’s got to travel to get there and focus on that day by day. That’s what we want him to focus on. Sure, there’s expectations from the fans. There’s expectations of me. I want the kid to grow and get better because that’s what he needs to do for his career. That’s what we sold him on in the process."

Smart was initially asked about the high expectations that have been set on Eason. Smart, like he did during his National Signing Day news conference, said any kind of pressure placed on Eason should be put on him instead.

"Pressure? The pressure’s on me," Smart said. "If we don’t win it’s my fault. Why should Jacob have pressure on him? He’s a true freshman. How many true freshmen (quarterbacks) have started in the SEC?

"My point is it doesn’t happen very often."

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Kirby Smart says Jacob Eason is 'the third guy coming in to compete for the job'."